We the People...Project Citizen

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Youth for Justice

Youth for Justice is administered in Ohio by the
Ohio Center for Law-Related Education. The Ohio
Youth for Justice project is funded by a grant
from the Ohio State Bar Foundation. Ohio joins
all other states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto
Rico as part of the national Youth for Justice
effort supported by the U.S. Department of
Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.
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What is Youth for Justice?

• Involving young people directly in identifying
  and implementing solutions to problems of social
  inequality and injustice in their schools and
  communities
• Teaching students about government and the law,
  and how to influence positive change within these
  institutions
• Empowering young people to take action against
  violence by and against youth

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What is law-related education?

• Law-related education (LRE) teaches young people
  how the legal and political systems function and
  most of all how youth fit into those systems.
  It addresses the following questions
• How does the law effect youth, and how can youth
  affect the law?
• What relevance does the Constitution have in the
  lives of young people?
• Why have certain legal procedures been
  established, and how well have they worked in
  solving disputes?

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Ohio Academic Content Standards Alignment

• Youth for Justice aligns with the Ohio Academic
  Content Standards
• To see alignment to content standards, click here

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Roles for youth and adults

• Young people may choose different issues than
  adults. The important task is to challenge young
  people to develop and defend their choices
  according to a mutually-accepted set of criteria.
  The role of adults should be to provide issues
  to choose from, but to the greatest degree
  possible, the selection of issues should be left
  to the young people.
• Young people may prefer agendas that give them
  more time to talk. Policymakers and other
  resource people will be pleased to give up some
  of their own mike time to listen and interact
  with young people who are prepared and serious.
  Likewise, the experience of speaking out in
  public will be much more positive for young
  people who can do so with confidence and
  authority of knowledge.
• Young people may take issues that they (or their
  peers) have chosen more seriously. Ownership is
  a powerful incentive for any age group. Young
  people will work harder to make a success of a
  program they are invested in, and will also be
  more likely to continue their interest and
  involvement.

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Overview of project

• Student-led project overseen by teacher or other
  adult advisor
• Youth identify issue of social injustice or
  inequalities in their community and gather
  research about the issue
• Youth identify solution(s) to the problem,
  develop a plan of action, and work toward
  implementation of solutions
• Students present project and share action plan
  with their community prior to spring Youth Summit
• Youth for Justice team members share project and
  results with other Ohio teams, as well as adult
  policy makers and community leaders at the Youth
  Summit

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Guidelines for Youth for Justice

• Goal of the Youth for Justice project is to
  empower young people to take an active role in
  preventing and/or solving community problems
• Focus is on injustices, inequalities, and other
  youth concerns
• A cross-section of youth should be involved. For
  example, reach out to and involve those students
  who are not typically leaders in the school
• Youth will be involved in the planning,
  implementing, and evaluating of project

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Guidelines for the Youth Summit

• Interactive activities should characterize Summit
• Youth should come to the Summit having prepared
  in advance
• The Ohio Youth for Justice program has
  implemented the following guidelines
• 1. Limit the Summit to middle school students
  (grades 4-9) because research shows that early
  intervention is key to preventing delinquency and
  violence
• 2. Participants are to represent the various
  geographic regions of the state rather than a
  regional of local Summit
• 3. Voluntary application for participation will
  be submitted by teams to OCLRE

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Organizing a Youth for Justice team

• Form a team of students in grades 4 9. Teams
  may have members from a single grade level, or a
  combination of the grade levels, as long as each
  student on a team falls in the range of 4th
  through 9th grade.
• Youth for Justice can be a classroom project or a
  small group project. Teams do not have to be
  affiliated with a school to participate in the
  program. In the past, local community centers
  and churches have sponsored and organized Youth
  for Justice teams.
• Examples of appropriate adult advisors include
  teachers, guidance counselors, school resource
  officers, or community youth organization
  leaders.
• Youth for Justice is a program for all students.
  Students of all academic and socioeconomic
  backgrounds participate in the program.

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Phases of Youth for Justice

• Choose a problem
• Identify solutions or strategies to help address
  problem
• Implement one or more solutions
• Present research, proposals, and progress at
  Youth Summit

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Phase I

• Choose problem
• Students conduct a research project (e.g.,
  surveys, interviews, local media) and determine
  issue that is of most concern to them and their
  peers. Students describe how the chosen problem
  affects their community and/or school, its
  seriousness, and those individuals or groups that
  are most affected by the problem.

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Methods for choosing a topic

• Look through local newspaper with students to
  identify acts of violence
• Conduct fact-finding sessions modeling
  legislative committee hearings with local experts
  where stated problem, statistics, and solutions
  are presented to students. This method engages
  students and experts in questions, answers, and
  opinions about specific topics in an effort to
  better understand the complexity of the issue.
• Assign students homework requiring them to think
  about and write down what they feel is the
  biggest problem in their neighborhood. Ask
  parents to do the same. Tally students and
  parents statements to decide on topic.

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Phase II

• Identify solutions or strategies to help address
  the problem
• These solutions can be based on existing
  programs or new ideas can be generated. Teams
  are urged to state who would be responsible for
  taking action for each solution. Solutions or
  strategies typically fall into two categories
• Solutions that could be implemented locally by
  students, AND
• Solutions that encourage local, state, and
  federal policymakers to act on recommendations
  made by youth

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Phase III

• Implementation
• Implementation is the key to real impact for
  your teams Youth for Justice project.
  Implementation often takes longer than all other
  phases combined, and it is often the most
  difficult phase. Teams may not be able to
  implement all proposed solutions in a single
  project year. Therefore, teams should develop a
  plan for implementation. Document the steps that
  have been taken, decide what you will do next,
  and when you will do it.

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Guidelines to help with implementation

• Students should select one of their proposed
  solutions
• Write out the basic steps the students will take
  to implement this solution
• Describe how the success of the project will
  measure the success be specific
• Repeat this process for each solution the team
  has identified for their topic.

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Document as plan is carried out

• Documentation provides a number of benefits
• A. Keeps track of teams work
• B. Keeps team focused
• C. Provides data for oral and written
  presentations
• Documentation can take many forms
• Written diary of steps with dates, activities,
  and results
• Photographs or video of team implementing
  project, e.g., making presentations, working a
  hotline, etc.
• Keep any materials produced by the team (flyers,
  posters, newsletters). You will want to use
  these in your display and presentation at the
  Summit
• Save any news clippings about your Youth for
  Justice teams activities and submit them to the
  OCLRE at the Summit

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Phase IV

• Present research, proposals, and progress at
  Youth Summit
• Teams attend the Youth for Justice Summit on
  Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at the Vern Riffe Center
  in downtown Columbus. At the Summit,
  legislators, judges, school board members, state
  agency personnel and other dignitaries listen as
  the students present and discuss their projects.
  Presentations should use a variety of creative
  forms (e.g., music, charts, posters, scrapbooks).
  All teams will be provided a 3X3 card table on
  which they can display their project.

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Preparing to Share at the Summit

• The format of the Summit is a project fair.
  Students should be prepared to present their
  projects to a number of fairgoers including, but
  not limited to, school administrators,
  legislators, policy makers, government officials,
  and community leaders. Teams should be prepared
  to answer questions related to their topic,
  solutions, and progress toward implementation.

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Team Presentations

• Whether 2, 10, 30, 100, or more students are
  involved with the Youth for Justice project, only
  a representative student team of 4-10 students
  should be chosen to attend the Summit in Columbus.

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Team Presentations

• Ohio Youth for Justice participants should be
  prepared for the following presentations prior to
  or during the Summit
• 1. Presentations to local organizations or
  individuals to whom students have made
  recommendations
• 2. At the Summit, all teams should be prepared
  to discuss their project with visitors
• 3. Written report, submitted at Summit, for
  incorporation into the 2008 Youth for Justice
  Summit Report.

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Forms of presentation expected

• Progress Report. On or before March 14, 2008,
  teams are required to submit a one or two
  paragraph report on progress. This report should
  include school information, team members names,
  topic, and any major successes in implementation.
  Must be received by OCLRE via fax or mail no
  later than the end of business on March 14.
  These reports will be used in news releases prior
  to the Summit.
• Written Forms/Reports. Submit the following to
  the OCLRE registration desk at the Summit on May
  14, 2008 1) one copy of teams final report
  (one to two pages), including facts about
  solutions to problem and 2) any attachments such
  as news clippings, etc.
• Verbal Presentation. Each team should come
  prepared to present to students and adults from
  around the state. Presentations should be as
  creative as possible and should include a) an
  introduction of team members, school, and city
  b) explanation of problem statement and research
  findings and c) solutions and planned action
  steps. Practice these presentations with local
  organizations or individuals before attending the
  Summit.
• Summit Display. Each team will be assigned
  display space for their project. Teams should
  construct a background display from three or four
  sheets of poster board, foam-core board, or the
  equivalent. Each of the panels should be no
  larger than 32 wide X 40 high. The display
  should be developed so it can be placed on a
  standard card table. Teams may organize their
  information in any way they like.

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2007-2008 Project Calendar

• November 15, 2007 New Advisor Training
• February 8, 2008 Team Registration Due
• March 14, 2008 Team Topics/Midterm Report
  Due
• May 14, 2008 Ohio Youth for Justice
  Summit/Final Reports due
• September 2008 2008 Youth for Justice
  Summit Report published and mailed

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For more information contact

• The Ohio Center for Law-Related Education
• P.O. Box 16562
• Columbus, OH 43216
• 877-485-3510 (toll-free in Ohio)
• 614-485-3510 (local)
• 614-486-6221 FAX
• Tim Kalgreen, program coordinator
• www.oclre.org
• tkalgreen_at_oclre.org